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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What sign does Aeneas see during the ritual for his father?

2. For whom does Aeneas return to Troy to search?

3. Which of the following is NOT something Helenus advises Aeneas and his followers to do?

4. What is remarkable about the boxing gloves of Eryx?

5. How does Anchises act when Aeneas first comes to help him escape?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the problem with Aeneas remaining in Carthage?

2. How will Aeneas start the line that turns into the rulers of the Roman Empire?

3. Which gods and goddesses are actually involved in the fall of Troy and what actions do they take?

4. Why is Juno so angry with the Trojans?

5. How does Aeneas feel about having to leave Dido and to what extent does he allow his feelings to influence his decision to leave her?

6. Describe the Harpies.

7. What are Neptune's feelings toward Troy and toward Aeneas? How do these feelings affect Aeneas' journey on the sea?

8. How does Priam compare and contrast Achilles and Pyrrhus?

9. What fate does Laocoön meet and why?

10. What does Jupiter predict will be the destiny of the Trojans?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the main characteristics of epic poems such as The Aeneid (and The Iliad and The Odyssey) is that the poem starts "in medias res," or in the middle of the action. The narrative then reveals information about what came before through various means, such as characters telling tales of the past or the narrator providing background. Discuss how this work begins in the middle, what information the reader is eventually given about what happened before, how this information is provided, and what effect this structure has on the experience of reading the poem.

Essay Topic 2

Choose two of the following and compare and contrast their subject matter and what the information they depict conveys to someone examining them:

1) the pictures on the walls of the temple of Juno in Carthage in Book I

2) the pictures on the cloak Aeneas gives Cloanthus as a prize in Book V

3) the sculptures Daedalus created inside the temple of Apollo by the Sibyl in Book VI

4) the pictures on Aeneas's shield in Book VIII

5) the pictures on Pallas's sword belt in Book X.

Essay Topic 3

Aeneas and Turnus are, respectively, the protagonist and antagonist of the story. Compare and contrast these two characters using examples from the text to identify ways their actions and fates parallel each other and ways they are alike or different in their personalities and beliefs.

(see the answer keys)

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